Cricket......

[Shebeen]

I'm sure many don't follow it anymore, but Sunfoil series is wrapping up this weekend. Titans should win it with a healthy lead over the lions and then Knights. After the first day the titans and lions have both been bowled out cheaply.....

 

Oh and waleed parnell is ripping through batting line ups again. Three consecutive five wicket hauls

[GLuvsMtb]

I'm sure many don't follow it anymore, but Sunfoil series is wrapping up this weekend. Titans should win it with a healthy lead over the lions and then Knights. After the first day the titans and lions have both been bowled out cheaply.....

 

Oh and waleed parnell is ripping through batting line ups again. Three consecutive five wicket hauls

Pity Supersport can't find a way to broadcast at least 1 of the games played in a week. Instead we have to watch 2015 IPL re-runs. I attended 2 games, well, 3 days of 2 different Sunfoil games, and there seems to be a huge gap between tests and Sunfoil cricket. As a laaitie I remember Currie Cup cricket as intense and very competitive.

[bertusras]

I'm sure many don't follow it anymore, but Sunfoil series is wrapping up this weekend. Titans should win it with a healthy lead over the lions and then Knights. After the first day the titans and lions have both been bowled out cheaply.....

 

Oh and waleed parnell is ripping through batting line ups again. Three consecutive five wicket hauls

 

I've been (not actively) following what's going on.

 

Re: Parnell, is it the quality of Parnell, or the quality of domestic cricket?

Edited April 8, 2016 by bertusras

[Shebeen]

Pity Supersport can't find a way to broadcast at least 1 of the games played in a week. Instead we have to watch 2015 IPL re-runs. I attended 2 games, well, 3 days of 2 different Sunfoil games, and there seems to be a huge gap between tests and Sunfoil cricket. As a laaitie I remember Currie Cup cricket as intense and very competitive.

my introduction to cricket as a laaitie in the 80s was B&H night cricket, but the big deal was the new years game between WP and the Tvl Mean Machine...my dad taught me to hate jimmy cook, clive rice, sylvester clarke et al (mainly because thy were so damn good). Whilst the proteas are now playing wonderful cricket across the globe, the local domestic game has suffered as they just never play (unlike in rugby, all the top guys play the entire super rugby tournament). Similiar issues at the sheffield shield, and to a lesser extent county cricket.

 

 

 

 

I've been (not actively) following what's going on.

 

Re: Parnell, is it the quality of Parnell, or the quality of domestic cricket?

probably a bit of both, but there are some quality batsmen in the Titans lineup.

[Baldrick]

Sad news

James Taylor has to retire due to serious heart condition

 

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/story/997033.html

[jimmycool]

Kevin Pietersen considering playing for South Africa to make Test return

 

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/apr/10/kevin-pietersen-playing-for-south-africa-test-return

 

Not sure what to make of this....?

Interesting how he assumes he would automatically be selected if he was eligible to play for SA

[GLuvsMtb]

Kevin Pietersen considering playing for South Africa to make Test return

 

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/apr/10/kevin-pietersen-playing-for-south-africa-test-return

 

Not sure what to make of this....?

Interesting how he assumes he would automatically be selected if he was eligible to play for SA

Thanks but no thanks. We ain't got no time for that!

[Christie]

I like KP, but we are not short of top order batsmen. Only place for him would be replacing Faf or AB, I cant see that happening.

[deanbean]

I like KP, but we are not short of top order batsmen. Only place for him would be replacing Faf or AB, I cant see that happening.

He'll only be eligible in a years time, then he'll be 37, hmm. Though I'd love to see him included in a test against England, and scoring a century off them, but cannot see it happening. Not with his comments on politics in SA cricket, and the quota situation.

[Shebeen]

http://www.espncricinfo.com/blogs/content/story/998617.html

 

 

In one grim season, South African cricket has transformed itself from being a healthy citizen of the world to an outpatient with a dicky heart. With stents, pacemakers and blood-thinning medication, the man in pyjamas has been stabilised, but there was nearly a corpse in the back of the ambulance. Obituaries could have appeared on three or four occasions. They might yet still.

The worst moment - the heart-stopper, one might say - was a few weeks ago against West Indiesin Nagpur. Quinton de Kock cut the ball to point and set off on a run, ball-watching; watching him, Hashim Amla started on the run, and when de Kock stopped, he followed suit. The mutual hesitation lasted only an instant but it seemed like a moment we'd been living in for years. The nation was momentarily united and we were all thinking: "We've been here before - it's not a good place to be."

[GLuvsMtb]

What is quite infuriating is that our boys seem to fire on all cylinders come IPL. 3 of the top 6 batsmen are SAFFAS, players like Duminy and Miller are fielding well, Quinny is doing everything right behind the stumps. Morkel and Morris looks much more dangerous than during the T20WC. It just blows my mind that we cannot seem to get it together when it counts.

[dev null]

What is quite infuriating is that our boys seem to fire on all cylinders come IPL. 3 of the top 6 batsmen are SAFFAS, players like Duminy and Miller are fielding well, Quinny is doing everything right behind the stumps. Morkel and Morris looks much more dangerous than during the T20WC. It just blows my mind that we cannot seem to get it together when it counts.

 

Maybe things are not quite kosher in the team management and coaching.

[Shebeen]

while i think the ranking system is flawed in execution, there's no hiding the demise of the team since biff/JK have left. at the start of the year we were still #1, due to the rankings update it rolled over to a new year and we went from 3rd down to 6th.

 

SIXTH?!

 

it's because we lost some really good results from 2013/14, decent results from 14/15 were given a 50% weighting and last year was pretty average. You've got to factor us getting a tour to bangladesh in the monsoon season (both games washouts - which cost you big points as they're an easybeat team). then there's the indian tour where the result was pretty much decided by the groundstaff (not saying we would have won it, but it would have been nice to have had a chance).

 

coming up?

 

2 home tests against new zealand in august

3 away tests in oz in november

3 home tests against Sri Lanka in dec/jan.

 

We're playing australia a lot - namely an ODI tri series in the caribbean, and another ODI series in SA in october. It's an odd schedule, but if we can really raise our game in the away tests we will shoot back up.

[GLuvsMtb]

RIP Tony Cozier. I enjoyed your commentary and writing.

['Dale]

RIP Tony Cozier. I enjoyed your commentary and writing.

Oh wow

What a class act

[Baldrick]

Decent cricket at last.. and brilliant commentary by cricinfo

22.2 full length, draws the drive... and gone, steered to third slip! Shanaka has given England a right boot to the knackers, his third wicket in eight deliveries and there is now a proper wobble on. Test cricket is back all right! Root was looking to assert himself, probably was a bit wide and he went hard at it, thick edge and it went straight to the man Mathews had stationed slightly wider. SL are enjoying Headingley again 51/3